Ashley Doing CrossFit
Fargo, North Dakota ~ 2019
Oil on Canvas
30" x 24"
Ashley was diagnosed with NF1 at the age of two due to a spontaneous gene mutation. Ashley remembers coming home from school crying because she was bullied for the fibromas or because she was going to different classrooms to learn or take tests. Some NF side effects Ashley deals with daily include slower hand-eye coordination, balance issues, dizziness, numbness in her right hand and right foot, constant nerve pain throughout the body and headaches. Comprehending some new things are still hard for her, as well as reading and spelling sometimes. She still graduated high school with a 4.0 and college with a 3.56.
Ashley has multiple MRIs every 6 months to once a year on her brain, whole spine, hips, pelvis, and breasts. She also has PET scans every 4 to 8 months. Ashley travels to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN from Fargo ND about every 3 to 6 months for her NF care. She has many fibromas inside her body and also on her skin. So far she has only had to have one major surgery to remove a neurofibroma from her left side of her neck that was on the vagus nerve ~ the fibroma was over the size of a lime.
Ashley enjoys attending a CrossFit gym 4 to 5 days a week and runs 2-4 miles a week on her days off from CrossFit. There are some things she needs to modify during the workouts due to her nerve pain throughout her body and the numbness in her hand and foot. In January 2019 Ashley was awarded the Grit award from CrossFit Fargo. Ashley is a licensed massage therapist and reflexologist and owns her own Massage Therapy business called Ashley Rae’s Massage which she opened in 2011.
In October of 2016, Ashley ran a 10K to raise awareness for NF. She ended up raising $1550. She ran the 10K race in 58:16. She got to wear a Run for NF singlet, during the race. Ashley now goes to Washington DC every year with NF Network to talk with Congress to help raise awareness for NF and asks for NF research funding through the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP).
Ashley has multiple MRIs every 6 months to once a year on her brain, whole spine, hips, pelvis, and breasts. She also has PET scans every 4 to 8 months. Ashley travels to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN from Fargo ND about every 3 to 6 months for her NF care. She has many fibromas inside her body and also on her skin. So far she has only had to have one major surgery to remove a neurofibroma from her left side of her neck that was on the vagus nerve ~ the fibroma was over the size of a lime.
Ashley enjoys attending a CrossFit gym 4 to 5 days a week and runs 2-4 miles a week on her days off from CrossFit. There are some things she needs to modify during the workouts due to her nerve pain throughout her body and the numbness in her hand and foot. In January 2019 Ashley was awarded the Grit award from CrossFit Fargo. Ashley is a licensed massage therapist and reflexologist and owns her own Massage Therapy business called Ashley Rae’s Massage which she opened in 2011.
In October of 2016, Ashley ran a 10K to raise awareness for NF. She ended up raising $1550. She ran the 10K race in 58:16. She got to wear a Run for NF singlet, during the race. Ashley now goes to Washington DC every year with NF Network to talk with Congress to help raise awareness for NF and asks for NF research funding through the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP).